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Nationals, Andrew Knizner Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Nationals are in agreement with catcher Andrew Knizner on a minor league contract, reports Andrew Golden of The Washington Post. The CAA client will get a non-roster invitation to MLB Spring Training.

Knizner, 30 next month, was drafted by the Cardinals in 2016. He’d converted to catching during his college days at North Carolina State. The right-handed hitter has produced offensively in the minors but hasn’t made much of an impact over parts of six big league campaigns. Knizner hit just .216/.290/.331 in nearly 800 trips to the plate with the Cardinals. St. Louis cut him loose last offseason.

The Rangers inked Knizner to a $1.825MM free agent deal last winter. He spent most of the year as Jonah Heim’s backup, but he didn’t perform especially well. Knizner hit .167/.183/.211 over 35 games. Texas acquired Carson Kelly at the deadline and designated Knizner for assignment not long after. He landed with the Diamondbacks via waiver claim. His time in Arizona consisted of 22 Triple-A games. The Snakes outrighted him off their 40-man roster without getting him into a big league contest. Knizner qualified for minor league free agency at the end of the season.

While Knizner hasn’t hit much at the MLB level, he owns a solid .271/.351/.424 slash over 454 career Triple-A plate appearances. There isn’t a huge bar to clear offensively for a backup catcher. Most backup catchers are well-regarded defensively. Knizner has struggled behind the plate, at least in the view of public metrics. Statcast has graded him as a below-average pitch framer. He also ranked in the bottom 10 among qualified catchers in average pop time (time to throw to second on a stolen base attempt).

There’s no risk for the Nationals in giving Knizner a non-roster look in camp. Keibert Ruiz has the starting job secure despite a difficult 2024 season. Riley Adams is the favorite for the backup job, a role he has held for the past three seasons. He is out of options and can’t be sent to the minors without going on waivers. Drew Millas is the only other catcher on the 40-man roster. Knizner is out of options himself, so if the Nats call him up at any point, they’d need to keep him in the big leagues or risk losing him to another team.

Reds Sign Austin Wynns, Levi Jordan To Minor League Deals

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The Reds have signed catcher Austin Wynns and infielder/outfielder Levi Jordan to minor league deals, per the MLB.com transaction tracker for each player. Both have been assigned to Triple-A Louisville but could receive invites to big league camp. Wynns is represented by Klutch Sports.

Wynns, 34, is a journeyman catcher who was on and off the Reds’ roster last year. He had previously spent time with the Orioles, Giants, Dodgers and Rockies before signing a split deal with the Reds last offseason. The deal would pay him a $950K salary for time spent in the majors and a $300K rate for time in the minors. That second number was far higher than the typical salary for a minor league player, which was by design for a couple of reasons. It would decrease the likelihood of another team claiming him off waivers and increase the chances of Wynns accepting an outright assignment.

That quickly came to pass, as Wynns was off the roster by January, just a couple of weeks after signing his deal in mid-December. He accepted the assignment and gave the Reds some non-roster depth. This sequence played out throughout the season, with Wynns frequently added to the roster and then bumped off again shortly after when no longer needed. He finished the season on the injured list due to a right teres major tear. He was outrighted off the roster at the end of the year and elected free agency.

Wynns only got into seven games for the Reds last year but they clearly like him as a depth catcher. His .230/.277/.332 career batting line across six different seasons isn’t much to look at but his work behind the plate has generally been considered solid. Cincinnati currently has just two catchers on the 40-man roster in Tyler Stephenson and Jose Trevino. Wynns provides them with an experienced veteran who could be the first up in the event of an injury to one of those two, without taking up a roster spot. If he gets added back to the roster at any point, he is out of options.

Jordan, 29, just made his major league debut with the Reds in 2024. It was a very limited debut, as he received just 11 plate appearances in seven games, getting just one hit. He was outrighted off the roster in the summer and elected free agency at season’s end.

He has generally produced solid numbers in the minors. Over the past four years, he has slashed .268/.353/.424 for a 108 wRC+ in 1,382 minor league plate appearances. He has done that while bouncing between various defensive positions, lining up at all three outfield spots and the three infield positions to the left of first base.

The Reds have plenty of uncertainty in their position player mix, as guys like Matt McLain, Christian Encarnacion-Strand, TJ Friedl, Jake Fraley, Jeimer Candelario and others missed time due to injuries in 2024. Jordan provides them with a bit of depth all over the diamond. If he gets added back to the roster at any point, he still has a full slate of options.

Mets Re-Sign Jesse Winker

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The Mets officially announced that they’ve re-signed Jesse Winker on a one-year deal. The Excel Sports Management client is reportedly guaranteed $7.5MM (including a $1MM signing bonus) and can earn an additional $1.5MM via incentives.

Winker, 31, began the 2024 season with the Nationals. He’d signed a minor league deal after a pair of injury-ruined seasons that saw him undergo both knee and spinal surgeries in the 2022-23 offseason. The injuries that necessitated those surgeries in 2022 contributed to a bleak .219/.344/.344 showing with the Mariners that season, and the lingering effects likely played a role in his tepid .199/.320/.247 showing with the 2023 Brewers.

The 2024 campaign seemingly saw Winker back to full health. He hit .257/.374/.419 in 379 plate appearances with Washington before going to Queens in a deadline trade that sent minor league righty Tyler Stuart back to the Nats. Winker batted a diminished but respectable .243/.318/.365 in 129 turns at the plate down the stretch before catching fire with a .318/.531/.636 slash in 32 October plate appearances.

Winker figures to see the bulk of time at designated hitter for the Mets, who have Brandon Nimmo and Juan Soto locked into the outfield corners. Jose Siri, Tyrone Taylor and Starling Marte are also in the outfield mix, with Marte also likely to see time at DH if he’s not traded. The Mets have been exploring potential deals for Marte, who’s owed $19.5MM in the final season of a four-year contract, to no avail.

Winker could see some occasional time in the outfield as well, of course, and he’s likely to be platooned regardless of the role he occupies. He’s a career .276/.379/.463 hitter against righties but just a .210/.324/.338 hitter against fellow southpaws. Winker can work a walk against left-handers, but nearly all of his power comes in advantageous platoon matchups.

The broader and more impactful takeaway from Winker’s reunion with the Mets is that it could spell the end of Pete Alonso’s time with the club. The Winker agreement is reportedly the beginning of a pivot away from Alonso, whom the Mets feel is likelier to sign elsewhere than in Queens. Their plan moving forward appears to be to spread that would-be Alonso money around to different targets, the first of which is Winker.

With that in mind, it’s possible the Mets could look to external options at first base, but a good portion of that market has been picked over. Sticking in-house, Mark Vientos would likely move from third base to first base, opening the hot corner for a competition between Brett Baty, Ronny Mauricio and Luisangel Acuña. There are more options at third base on the market than at first base — Alex Bregman, a Nolan Arenado trade — but it’s hard to square the idea that the Mets would balk at a long-term deal for Alonso and then make a sizable commitment to older infielders like Bregman (still seeking a long-term deal) or Arenado (34 and owed $64MM over the next three seasons).

The addition of Winker pushes the Mets’ payroll to about $287MM, per RosterResource. Their cash payroll is actually a slight bit higher than their luxury tax ledger, as the Mets’ long-term deals with Edwin Diaz and Kodai Senga are a bit front-loaded and carry 2025 salaries that are higher than the contracts’ respective annual values. New York currently sits about $17MM shy of the top $301MM luxury tier. They’ll pay a 95% tax on any dollars spent up to $301MM and then a 110% tax on any dollars thereafter. Because they’re now exceeding the $241MM threshold by more than $40MM, their top pick in the 2026 draft will drop by ten places (barring additional moves to duck down into and remain in the second penalty tier).

SNY’s Andy Martino first reported that the Mets and Winker had an agreement. Jon Heyman of the New York Post reported it was a one-year deal with a guarantee around $8MM and a $1MM signing bonus. The Post’s Joel Sherman had the $7.5MM guarantee and the $1.5MM in bonuses.

Poll: Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s Future With The Blue Jays

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While the Blue Jays have been involved in pursuits of a number of major players this winter ranging from Juan Soto to Corbin Burnes to Roki Sasaki, the number one question hanging over the club’s head this offseason is the same one that’s been at the forefront of fans’ minds for years now: will the Blue Jays be able to extend Vladimir Guerrero Jr. before he reaches free agency? And, if not, what will the club do about it? The question is now more urgent than ever, with just over nine months left until Guerrero is set to file for free agency.

Even Guerrero’s relatively short remaining window of team control doesn’t fully illustrate how quickly the Blue Jays are reaching a crossroads, however. Guerrero has made clear that he set a deadline for negotiations of the first full day of Spring Training with the club’s front office. For the Blue Jays, the first full-squad workout is February 18, almost exactly a month away. If club brass and Guerrero’s camp are going to get a deal done ahead of that deadline, they’ll need to make a great deal of progress over the next month: reporting yesterday indicated that the sides last had extension discussions before Christmas, and it seems as though there was a significant gap in negotiations when the sides withdrew from the negotiating table for the holidays.

According to Guerrero, the Jays have offered him a deal in the vicinity of $340MM, and that this offer came prior to Soto signing with the Mets on a record-shattering $765MM deal last month. Meanwhile, reports have suggested that Guerrero’s asking price is believed to be above $400MM and potentially close to half a billion dollars. That’s no insignificant difference. That gap in negotiations hasn’t led the club to shop Guerrero on the open market to this point, and the club has signaled that they have every intention of keeping their star in the fold for the 2025 season.

That hasn’t stopped teams from inquiring, however. Recent reporting suggested that the Mets have checked in with the Blue Jays on the possibility of a Guerrero trade. That conversation doesn’t seem to have garnered significant traction to this point, and reports have indicated that the Jays would need to be bowled over by an offer that brings in a bigger haul than Soto did last winter to even consider moving Guerrero. That’s an incredibly steep asking price for any rental player, though of course it should be noted that last winter’s Soto deal and this offseason’s Kyle Tucker deal have suggested that some clubs are willing to pay exorbitant prices for star players even when they have just one season of control remaining.

It goes without saying that if the Jays see a path towards an extension with Guerrero before his deadline next month, they seem all but certain to pursue that rather than consider dealing him. Should negotiations fall through, however, it will be worth wondering whether or not the club will be able to build a contender around him in his final year before free agency. Landing Sasaki would surely help with that goal, and the Jays clearly have money to spend in free agency. They’ve been attached to top remaining free agents like Jack Flaherty, Anthony Santander, and Pete Alonso in recent weeks. All of those names would significantly improve the club, but it’s unlikely any of them individually would do enough to push the Jays from fifth place in the AL East into a playoff spot without significant rebound seasons from established players like Bo Bichette, Kevin Gausman, and Alejandro Kirk who struggled to produce last year.

If an extension can’t be reached and the Jays don’t have confidence in their ability to build a winning club for 2025, it’s easy to make the argument that the club should at least see what Guerrero could bring back on the trade market. If they find an offer that eclipses the package the Padres received for Soto last winter, it’s easy to imagine that greatly accelerating the club’s return to competitiveness in a post-Guerrero era. That would certainly be preferable to missing the playoffs again in 2025 with Guerrero on the roster and losing him for nothing more than a compensatory draft pick in free agency next winter, though trading Guerrero before the season begins would make a playoff run this year all the more difficult to imagine.

The club could also give itself more time to make a decision by supplementing the roster further throughout the winter in an effort to compete this year and then re-evaluating at the trade deadline. With that said, Guerrero would surely be far less attractive as a trade candidate with just two months of team control remaining. His impact for an acquiring club in 2025 would be reduced if they only had him for the stretch run, and perhaps more importantly it’s all but impossible to imagine him entertaining an extension with a new club that close to free agency. The star slugger is sure to garner a significantly larger return if traded before the season begins, but that would all but close the door on playoff baseball in Toronto this year.

How do MLBTR readers think the situation will play out? Will Guerrero and the Blue Jays come to an agreement on an extension before his deadline next month? And if not, will the Jays trade their star slugger before Opening Day or enter the season with him on the roster? Have your say in the poll below!

What's Next for Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and the Blue Jays?
The sides won't agree to an extension, but Guerrero will still be a Blue Jay on Opening Day. 63.91% (5,669 votes)
The sides will agree to an extension this winter. 19.47% (1,727 votes)
Guerrero will be traded before Opening Day. 16.62% (1,474 votes)
Total Votes: 8,870

Orioles Outright Liván Soto

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The Orioles announced that infielder Liván Soto has cleared waivers and been sent outright to Triple-A Norfolk. He had been designated for assignment a week ago when the club claimed right-hander Roansy Contreras, though Contreras has since been sent info DFA limbo himself.

Soto, 25 in June, has been in plenty of transactions in recent years. It seems he has been seen as good enough to attract the attention of several clubs, but without ever having a firm grip on a roster spot. In February of 2024, he went from the Angels to the Orioles via waivers, then back to the Angels via another waiver claim that same month. In April, the O’s claimed him from the Angels yet again. They put him back on waivers a few days later, with the Reds swooping in with a claim. At the end of July, just before the trade deadline, he and Austin Slater were traded to the O’s for cash.

Around all of those transactions, Soto has found the time to play baseball here and there. He has appeared in 35 big league games over the past three seasons and stepped to the plate 87 times. He has a strong .351/.407/.494 batting line in that time, though that’s a small sample and it’s inflated by a .441 batting average on balls in play.

Naturally, he has spent more time on the farm. Over the past three years, he’s had 1,390 minor league plate appearances, split between Double-A and Triple-A as well as three different organizations. In those, he has strong walk and strikeout rates of 12.9% and 20.2%, respectively. His .266/.366/.366 batting line translates to a 95 wRC+. He has spent significant time at the three infield spots to the left of first base, as well as a brief stint in center field.

The combination of solid plate discipline and defensive versatility has clearly made Soto an attractive depth player around the league but he has now finally cleared waivers. He’ll give the O’s a bit of non-roster infield depth. They are unlikely to need it, as they have Gunnar Henderson, Jordan Westburg, Jackson Holliday, Ramón Urías, Jorge Mateo, Ryan O’Hearn, Ryan Mountcastle, Coby Mayo, Emmanuel Rivera and Jacob Amaya on the roster. Still, there’s no harm in having a bit more depth, especially when it’s a guy who’s not taking up a roster spot. If Soto gets back on the roster at any point, he still has one option year remaining.

Mariners, Shintaro Fujinami Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Mariners have agreed to a minor league deal with hard-throwing righty Shintaro Fujinami, reports Jon Morosi of MLB Network. The Boras Corporation client will be in big league camp as a non-roster invitee this spring.

Fujinami, 31 in April, came over from Japan in 2023 when he signed a one-year deal with the A’s. After a calamitous start to his big league career in the former Oakland rotation, he moved to the bullpen and wound up settling in nicely. His season-long ERA never really recovered from being routed for 24 runs in his first 15 MLB innings, but Fujinami cruised to a 3.32 ERA, 25.6% strikeout rate and 7% walk rate over his final 21 2/3 innings before being traded to the Orioles — and he did so while averaging an eye-popping 99.5 mph on his heater and posting a mammoth 15% swinging-strike rate.

Fujinami got out to a fine start with the O’s post-trade, logging a 3.76 ERA with big strikeout totals in his first 26 1/3 innings. He was roughed up for five runs in his final 3 1/3 innings, spanning five appearances, and finished his time in Baltimore with a pedestrian 4.85 ERA. Still, the underlying numbers looked intriguing.

The Mets took notice of those under-the-hood numbers and inked Fujinami to a one-year contract last winter. He was expected to have a spot in the team’s bullpen but was limited in spring training by shoulder troubles. He began on the season on the injured list and rehabbed in the minors before being recalled in early May to move to the 60-day injured list (and open a 40-man spot) due to what was termed a shoulder strain. Fujinami was shelved until late June.

In 24 1/3 innings upon being reinstated in the minors, Fujinami posted a 1.85 ERA and 29-to-12 K/BB ratio. He did so with a 97.3 mph average fastball that was more than two full miles per hour shy of his 2023 mark, however, and he wilted in the season’s final weeks, yielding eight runs in his final 4 1/3 frames of minor league ball.

Fujinami revealed back in October that he planned to play winter ball on the heels of that injury-wrecked year. The aim was to catch on with another big league club, and he’s now done just that after thriving in the Puerto Rican Winter League. In 20 2/3 innings with los Gigantes de Carolina, Fujinami boasts a 3.05 ERA, 26.7% strikeout rate and 12.2% walk rate. Command remains an issue, but the right-hander’s blistering fastball, ability to miss bats and generally strong winter showing will earn him another opportunity to return to the majors.

The Mariners have a track record of finding hidden gems on the bullpen market and will hope Fujinami can be their latest rags-to-riches success story. Seattle’s bullpen is anchored by star righty Andrés Muñoz, and he’ll have Collin Snider, Trent Thornton, Gregory Santos and Tayler Saucedo in his setup corps. Options to fill out the bullpen include Gabe Speier, Eduard Bazardo, Carlos Vargas, Troy Taylor, Cody Bolton and waiver pickups Tyler Jay and Hagen Danner, among others. The M’s also have powerhouse reliever Matt Brash on the mend from last May’s Tommy John surgery, and they could get a look at Jackson Kowar early in the season as well; he underwent his own Tommy John procedure late last March.

Twins’ Trade Conversations Have Picked Up In Recent Weeks

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The Twins have been one of the quietest teams in Major League Baseball this winter, but president of baseball operations Derek Falvey tells Dan Hayes of The Athletic that trade conversations have picked up over the past couple weeks. Naturally, Falvey didn’t delve into specifics but expressed optimism that there’s been some “traction” in recent talks as some teams have begun to focus more on the trade market. “…I can tell you we’ve had more active conversations in the last couple of weeks than we’ve had prior,” said Falvey.

Minnesota has yet to sign a major league free agent this winter, and their only 40-man roster additions have come via the Rule 5 Draft (Phillies righty Eiberson Castellano) and via minor trades to acquire utilityman/catcher Mickey Gasper from Boston and former top catching prospect Diego Cartaya from Los Angeles. (The Dodgers had designated Cartaya for assignment prior to the trade.)

Ownership mandated a payroll cut of nearly $30MM for the Twins last offseason due to uncertainty stemming from the bankruptcy proceedings of Diamond Sports Group/Bally Sports. The Twins and DSG/Bally reached a one-year agreement at a reduced rate for 2024 broadcasts. Minnesota has now turned broadcast rights over to the league, securing some certainty for the upcoming season but still checking in at a reduced rate relative to their former Bally’s deal.

Despite the lesser television revenue, however, the Twins are not under any mandate to further reduce payroll from their currently projected mark, Hayes reports. For Minnesota fans, that’s good news to an extent, though Hayes adds that there’s minimal room for any additions. If the Twins have eyes on any decisive upgrades, they’d likely need to trim payroll to make that happen.

Christian Vazquez (owed $10MM in the final season of his contract) and Chris Paddack (owed $7.5MM in the final season of his own deal) have been the most speculated-upon targets, as the Twins have other options behind the plate and in the rotation. Ryan Jeffers is the clear starter at catcher, while the rotation includes Pablo Lopez, Joe Ryan, Bailey Ober and Simeon Woods Richardson — with prospects David Festa and Zebby Matthews among the options in the fifth spot, should Paddack be moved.

Hayes reports that utilityman Willi Castro ($6.4MM, free agent at season’s end) has been “asked about often” this winter as well. Presumably, given the switch-hitting Castro’s versatility, productivity and popularity with the rest of the roster, the Twins would prefer to hold onto him. Falvey & Co. surely wouldn’t mind dumping the final $4MM owed to twice-outrighted pitcher Randy Dobnak on another club, though they’d likely need to send a low-level prospect to another club to facilitate such a swap. The Twins have at least heard other teams out as they’ve approached about the likes of Lopez and Carlos Correa, but Falvey has also made clear that despite payroll constraints the Twins are in win-now mode, calling Lopez, Correa and Byron Buxton “key” players to the team’s 2025 hopes in the same breath. (Correa and Buxton have full no-trade protection anyhow.)

Vazquez’s contract is clearly underwater, but given the $4MM guarantee secured by a comparable glove-first backstop in each of the past two winters (Austin Hedges), the Twins may not have to eat his entire salary to facilitate a trade. Paddack’s $7.5MM guarantee seems reasonable, if not something of a discount, in the current climate for free agent starters. Castro has clear surplus value after hitting .251/.334/.395 (108 wRC+) with 21 homers and 47 steals in 1044 plate appearances and providing decent or better glovework at nearly every position on the diamond over the past two seasons.

The Twins have spent the offseason looking for help at first base, and they’ve been in the market for a right-handed-hitting outfielder as well. Their recent stockpiling of catching depth has led to plenty of speculation about finding a potential deal to move a portion of Vazquez’s contract, though there’s still no indication anything is close on that front.

Most of the first base market has been picked over. Pete Alonso is surely out of Minnesota’s price range, barring a wild about-face from ownership, but Justin Turner remains unsigned and there are rebound candidates to consider (e.g. Anthony Rizzo, Ty France, Connor Joe). Affordable corner outfield options who bat from the right side include Mark Canha (who can also play first), Randal Grichuk, Austin Hays, Tommy Pham and Ramon Laureano.

Twins fans will want to check out Hayes’ piece in full, as it also includes several updates on the ongoing sale process. That comes just one day after La Velle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported that there have been “double digit” inquiries from potential buyers/groups, Hayes writes that billionaire Justin Ishbia, who co-owns the NBA’s Phoenix Suns with his brother Mat, is “very, very serious” in his desire to buy the team and “could be aggressive” in his reported bid. The Ishbia brothers are the only known suitor to date, though Neal reported yesterday that some notable former Twins players — Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau and Torii Hunter among them — could each have interest in pitching a new ownership group on securing a 1-2% stake in the club.

Mariners Outright Nick Raposo

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The Mariners have announced that catcher Nick Raposo has cleared waivers and been sent outright to Triple-A Tacoma. He had been designated for assignment earlier in the week when the club acquired infielder Miles Mastrobuoni.

Raposo, 27 in June, still hasn’t made his major league debut. The Cardinals added him to their roster in June of last year when both Willson Contreras and Iván Herrera were injured. But Raposo never got into a game and was later put on waivers, getting claimed by the Blue Jays in August. He was kept on optional assignment for the rest of the year and the Jays put him back on waivers in December, with the M’s putting in a claim at that time.

He has a combined batting line of .241/.321/.387 over his four minor league seasons. That production translates to a wRC+ of 85, indicating he’s been 15% below average overall. Catchers normally come in about 10% below the league-wide mean, so that’s not bad production for a backstop. Baseball Prospectus has given him solid marks for his defense.

The M’s have a clear #1 catcher in Cal Raleigh, with Mitch Garver likely to be the backup. They recently acquired Blake Hunt to add some depth and now Raposo will be sticking around to give them some more depth in a non-roster capacity.

Tigers To Re-Sign Tomas Nido On Minor League Deal

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The Tigers are re-signing veteran catcher Tomas Nido on a minor league contract, as first reported by Mike Mayer of Metsmerized. Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press reports that Nido would receive a $1.5MM base salary if he makes the big league roster. The ACES client will be a non-roster invitee in major league camp this spring.

Nido, 31 in April, began the 2024 season with the Mets before being cut loose and going on to sign free agent deals with both the Cubs and Tigers — though he only played in three Triple-A games with Detroit after signing in mid-September.

A premium defensive catcher with a light bat, Nido is a career .210/.245/.309 hitter (53 wRC+) in 323 games and 945 trips to the plate. He’s punched out in 26% of his career plate appearances and has a 4.1% walk rate. Despite the lack of punch, he’s gotten considerable MLB run due to elite framing grades and plus marks for both his blocking and throwing. Nido has nabbed 22% of runners who’ve attempted to steal against him in his career, including a 22.7% mark in 359 frames last season when the league-average was just 20.3%.

The Tigers don’t have a need for catching help on the big league roster at this juncture. Jake Rogers will reprise his role as the starter there. He hit just .197/.255/.352 in 2024 but was a Gold Glove finalist and is only a year removed from popping 21 homers and delivering roughly league-average rate stats in the batter’s box.

Former second-round pick Dillon Dingler is the favorite to serve as Rogers’ backup. He hit only .167/.195/.310 with Detroit, but that came in a tiny sample of 87 plate appearances. Dingler was worlds better in Triple-A Toledo, where he absolutely raked at a .308/.379/.559 pace (139 wRC+) and belted 17 homers in 301 trips to the plate. He draws better-than-average framing and blocking grades, and Dingler thwarted a gaudy 38% of stolen base attempts against him in Toledo as well.

Braves Claim Amos Willingham, Designate Allan Winans

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The Braves have claimed right-hander Amos Willingham off waivers from the Nationals, per a team announcement. Righty Allan Winans was designated for assignment in a corresponding move. Washington had designated Willingham for assignment last week.

Willingham, 26, is a Georgia native and Georgia Tech product who’s pitched in the majors in each of the past two seasons with the Nats. He’s totaled only 25 1/3 innings and been torched for a 7.11 ERA in that tiny sample, but the 6’4″, 223-pound righty has enjoyed plenty of success in the upper minors. Willingham was unscored upon in the brief 10 2/3 innings he spent at the Double-A level and carries a combined 3.47 ERA in parts of two Triple-A seasons (93 1/3 innings). He’s punched out a solid 23.3% of his Triple-A opponents — albeit against a more problematic 10.8% walk rate.

The claim of Willingham adds a power arm to the Braves’ depth chart — one who still has a minor league option year remaining. Willingham has averaged 95.9 mph on his heater in the majors and ran it up to 98 mph in his lone big league outing this past season. Though his strikeout rate in Triple-A was roughly in line with the major league average, his 13.1% swinging-strike rate against minor league opponents was well north of MLB’s 11.1% average. He pairs that heater with a 90 mph cutter and 85 mph slider.

Winans, 29, has pitched in the majors in each of the past two seasons as well. He’s similar to Willingham — beyond their identical ALW initials — in that both have struggled in the big leagues but pitched well in Triple-A. Winans has an ugly 7.20 earned run average with a 20.9% strikeout rate and 6.6% walk rate in the majors. In parts of three Triple-A campaigns, however, he touts a 3.26 ERA, 21.8% strikeout rate and 6.9% walk rate. That’s come in a sample of 256 innings, as Winans has operated primarily as a starting pitcher. Both pitchers also have one minor league option remaining.

The similarities broadly stop there. Winans sits just 90-91 with his four-seamer and 89-90 with his sinker. He pairs those modest fastballs with an upper-70s slider and a changeup that sits 82-83 mph. He’s generally gotten by in the minors with sub-par velocity thanks to strong command and a knack for inducing weak contact. Big league hitters haven’t made a lot of hard contact on average, but when they do square Winans up, the results haven’t been pretty. He’s yielded a 10% barrel rate and been tagged for an average of 1.80 home runs per nine innings pitched.

The Braves will have five days to look for a potential trade partner for Winans. At that point, they’d have to place him on outright waivers, which take an additional 48 hours to process.

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